The Ugly Beautiful Truth About A.I.

Artificial Intelligence (or “A.I.”) is one of hottest topics in technology right now. Earlier this year, over 1,000 technology company CEOs signed an open letter to pause the further development of A.I. to prevent unintended consequences including one where “literally everyone on Earth will die.”

Flashes of the Terminator and The Matrix come to mind, but that hasn’t slowed developers, businesses, and even governments from chasing A.I.’s potential. Does that mean the end is nigh and mankind as we know it is doomed? Maybe. As with most things, it’s a matter of perspective.

Let’s be real about A.I.

First, let’s be real about what’s coming. A.I. will put many people out of work. Business leaders may talk down the threat and deflect to A.I.’s many benefits, but Occam’s razor is as sharp as it is clear.

Just as tractors replaced countless farmhands, A.I. will thin out the modern workforce. It’s foolish to think profit-minded businesses will not leverage A.I. to reduce costs and increase earnings because that’s what successful businesses do.

The difference this time is more jobs are at risk. Previous technological advancements primarily replaced manual-labor, blue-collar jobs like factory workers.

However, the nature of A.I. means knowledge-based, white-collar jobs are also replaceable. Professionals like doctors, lawyers, accountants, and ironically even computer programmers will see their jobs challenged by A.I.

This may seem like a gloomy outlook, but it’s just a clear-eyed observation of what is. What’s more, a brutally honest assessment of the situation is necessary to effectively address the consequences and opportunities that A.I. creates.

Consequences and opportunities

Can you imagine doing a professional, office-based job in today’s workplace without the internet? The same will be true with respect to A.I. in the not so distant future. Not only will A.I. replace many jobs and workers, but it will also change the way the remaining jobs are done.

Change isn’t necessarily a bad thing, and so there is a better looking side to A.I. Just as some old jobs will be replaced, some new jobs will be created. For the time being, anyway, A.I. still requires substantial human intervention. Even “full self driving” requires an attentive set of human hands on the steering wheel.

That means there will be opportunities for those who can develop, manage, or use A.I. That does not mean we need to know how to write code. However, we do need to understand A.I. and get comfortable with using it using it. Fortunately, most people should be able to do that, but it won’t happen by itself.

The implication for workers of today and tomorrow is it’s time to upgrade our skillsets, to increase our knowledge and experience as it relates to A.I. Again, that doesn’t mean changing careers or starting over. Think of it like simply learning a new application to help with tasks you already perform.

The bottom line on A.I.’s two faces

Like it or not and believe it or not the truth is that A.I. is coming for our jobs. Most employers are also businesses that prioritize increasing their bottom lines so that practically ensures it will happen. People who ignore or resist what’s coming will likely be first in line for impact.

While some see this as an ugly vision of the future, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. A.I. will bring changes and challenges, but it will also introduce opportunities to learn, grow, and stay relevant for the work of tomorrow. It’s up to each of us to decide which side of this two-faced monster to embrace.

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HWL